Study offers hope to bells palsy sufferers

A major study, led by Professor Frank Sullivan, Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care, into the disfiguring condition Bell's Palsy has found that early treatment with steroids significantly improves the chances of a complete recovery.

The study examined almost 500 sufferers of Bell's Palsy, a condition caused by problems with the facial nerve which can result in facial disfigurement and paralysis of one side of the face.

The condition affects around 1 in 60 people during their lifetime, or around 100 people per month in Scotland. It can strike almost anyone at any age but disproportionately affects pregnant women and sufferers of diabetes, flu, colds and other upper respiratory ailments. High-profile sufferers of the condition have included George Clooney and Pierce Brosnan.

The study examined the effects of early treatment with the steroid prednisolone and the anti-viral agent acyclovir. Researchers found no additional benefit from the anti-viral treatment but prednisolone offered a substantial increase in complete recovery rates.

There had been a growing body of literature in recent years pointing to Bell's Palsy being caused by viruses and so was being treated more widely with anti-viral drugs, which are expensive. However, the Scottish study shows prednisolone, which is already a commonly prescribed steroid and relatively inexpensive, is the best treatment.

The researchers found that treatment with prednisolone offered a 95% rate of complete recovery after nine months. 83% showed complete recovery at three months of treatment.

"This offers a significant improvement in how we treat Bell's Palsy and it will make a real difference to patients," said Professor Sullivan.

"The present situation sees a mixture of different treatments given to patients, from steroids to anti-virals to not giving them anything. Around 80% of people get better without any treatment, but our findings significantly improve on that."

"What this study gives us is clear-cut evidence that early treatment with steroids offers by far the best results for complete recovery."

The study was carried out with support from other Scottish universities at Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow and from the Chief Scientist Office of NHS Scotland and GP services around the country. The Project was funded by NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme.

Findings of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.